In the high-pressure processes for the production of melamine, urea is reacted to give melamine by means of an endothermic liquid-phase reaction. The liquid melamine, depending on the pressure and temperature conditions in the reactor, additionally contains different amounts of dissolved NH3 and CO2, and condensation by-products and unreacted urea. The melamine thus obtained is then solidified, for example, by quenching with water or with ammonia, by sublimation with subsequent desublimation or by releasing the pressure under specific conditions.
The reactor used is customarily a tank reactor with a central pipe and heating elements arranged outside the central pipe, which provide the heat necessary for the reaction. These heating elements are pipe bundles, in which a salt melt circulates, arranged parallel to the central pipe. Urea and NH3 are introduced at the bottom of the reactor, impinge on a distributor plate which is located underneath the central pipe and react in the free space between the pipe bundles, in which melamine is already situated, with decomposition and evolution of gas to give melamine. In WO 99/00374, such a reactor is depicted schematically, the flow direction of the melt also being indicated such that the reaction mixture outside the central pipe flows upwards between the pipe bundles and separates there into off-gas and liquid melamine. The off-gas is removed at the top of the reactor, one part of the melamine melt is removed from the reactor via an overflow and the other part of the melamine melt flows downwards within the central pipe on account of gravity.
This previously used type of reactor, however, has the disadvantage that the pipe bundles, in particular in the case of relatively high urea throughputs, corrode relatively rapidly and therefore have to be frequently exchanged.